A photo of adorable puppies at the Jackson Co shelter in NC accompanies an article based upon the flawed premise that shelters up north are no kill and that there are strict spay-neuter laws in northern states.  The county recently purchased a cargo van for $23,000 in order to regularly ship dogs up north.

To be clear, there is no state in this country that has publicly available statistics to back up any claim that healthy/treatable animals are not killed in its shelters.  Further, there is no state that has mandatory spay-neuter for all dogs and cats.  AFAIK, shelter animals are killed in all 50 states and driving them hundreds of miles causes displacement killing and perpetuates myths about shelter animals, in addition to a host of other serious issues.  (Thanks Lisa for the link.)

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A terrible op-ed defending the Miami-Dade pound appeared in the Miami Herald last week.  Perhaps the worst bit:

Nearly 100 animals a day come into MDAS. This strains the ability of our community to care for adoptable, salvageable animals by having to keep the community’s old, infirm and injured pets alive, or networking them and using resources that might best be utilized elsewhere.

Gee, so sorry your shelter is expected to keep imperfect (in your eyes) pets alive which compromises (in your opinion) the shelter’s ability to keep “salvageable” (as in, junkyard?) pets alive.  How awful that resources are spent on the elderly and infirm when it would obviously be better to use them for the young and beautiful.  Yeah, that’s what sheltering is all about.

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Dallas seems to be facing up to the fact that “catch and kill” isn’t going to solve its loose dog problem because it does nothing to address poverty – the root cause of the issue.  (Thanks Karen.)

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A dozen shelter dogs in Santa Barbara Co got to go running with members of a local high school cross country team.  What an excellent idea!  (Thanks Claire.)

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The smallest wild cat, the Arabian Sand Cat, was spotted for the first time in 10 years via baited camera traps set up by scientists in Abu Dhabi.  (Thanks Steven.)

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Capybaras are friends with everybody.  (Thanks Billy.)

The Memphis Humane Society is apparently still a mess.  After threatening to kill a dog who looked at a baby, and firing some employees in response to the ensuing public backlash, the new director is attacking and alienating everyone within an internet-mile-radius.  (Read the comments too, if you haven’t exceeded your ew, that person is in charge of an animal shelter? quota for the week.)

Award winning dog photos and because right now, we probably all need it, more beautiful dog photos, these featuring oldens.

Apparently stealing bee colonies is a thing, and it’s best done at night.

Hot job lead, if you know any out of work Hedgehog Officers.

Quite a lot of things I didn’t know, all in a rather short article.

Which would you rather?:

A Wildlife Show at the Alice Springs Desert Park in Australia
or
Winged Terror From Above

The city of Norfolk impounded a dog from his new owner after the dog killed a cat last month. The rescue that had arranged the adoption immediately called the Norfolk Animal Care and Adoption Center to claim ownership of the dog but the city quickly killed him anyway. The city claimed they had researched the dog’s background and found he’d been adopted via out of state groups multiple times but those adoptions didn’t work out. Also a rabies certificate had the dog’s age wrong. So kill. (Thanks Leigh for the link.)

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After the troubled Fitchburg Animal Control in MA was shut down in 2014, the fired managers opened up a dog training business.  Both were charged with felony animal cruelty this month in connection with a client’s dog they allegedly left muzzled for several days, causing injury.  (Thanks Anne.)

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Someone tied a starving dog to a post at the pound in Lubbock, TX. Problem One: The pound has been closed for years since the city built a new facility in a different location. Problem Two: Anyone bringing a pet there after-hours would have no way of knowing the place was abandoned since the signs are still up and there are no signs advising visitors of the new location. Fortunately, a member of the irresponsible public helped the dog and she is now in rescue. In response to social media postings about the incident, the city finally removed the signs at the vacant shelter.

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The GA vet who blamed a dog for burning to death inside a hyperbaric chamber at his clinic is now wanted by police in Cherokee Co for an apparently unrelated incident.  He is considered armed and dangerous.  (Thanks Clarice.)

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Five PA high school football players have been cited for illegally killing wild animals after they posted photos of themselves on social media posing with baseball bats and bloodied animal corpses.  The animals they apparently sought out for the purpose of torturing them to death included frogs, pigeons and possums as well as a snake and a raccoon.  The recent graduates and star athletes got an assist from Coach Enabler:

Jim Roth, the head football coach at Southern Columbia, said, “Some kids that are good kids … made a bad decision.”

He added that “Some of these kids are not even aware of all the laws as far as small animals.”

Well gosh, I wonder what other laws these good kids might not be fully aware of – because we’ll want to give them a pass when they break those too, obviously.

Lynn Co Animal Services in Texas recently announced plans to start killing dogs after 72 hours.  The director killsplained that the public is irresponsible, nobody wants to kill animals, blah cetera.  After the local news ran the story, so many stupid irresponsible public jerks called wanting to adopt, Lynn Co had to refer the unwashed masses to other shelters in the area.  (Thanks Clarice for the link.)

Second Chance Dogs, a rescue that reportedly pulled a lot of dogs from Ashe Co Animal Control in NC, has severed ties with the facility because another rescue beat them to a “very adoptable litter” of puppies last month.  Second Chance was annoyed that AC didn’t turn the other rescue away and hold the pups at the pound, I guess you know, in case Second Chance might want to sell them.  Plus shelters are really swell environments for puppies so.  Second Chance got so much angry feels and decided to punish all the dogs at the Ashe Co pound by refusing to help any ever again.  (Thanks Lisa.)

Some of you have seen this in the Open Thread but I wanted to mention it here too:  A heartbroken owner who filed a lost dog report with Prince George Co Animal
Services in VA says she doesn’t harbor any ill will toward the shelter despite the fact that they forgot to file her report, impounded her dog, failed to find his microchip, then sent him to a rescue group.  The rescue director is jerking the owner around so shamefully that it’s embarrassing to be the same species.  (Thanks Clarice, et al.)

Nat Geo answers readers’ questions about cat behavior.  Note:  Even if you aren’t particularly interested in reading the article, you probably want to look at the super excellent kitten picture at the top of the page.  (Thanks Steven.)

Pilots broke the rules when flying evacuees from the Fort McMurray fire in Canada by accepting every pet who came with their family including dogs, cats, rabbits, hedgehogs, chinchillas and frogs. The pictures of the pets on board the plane are awesome. (Thanks Karen.)

In January, NY state inspectors found that the Islip animal shelter was sending strays out with rescues and adopters without holding them for the mandated 5 day holding period so their owners could reclaim them.  In February, the shelter director was caught on audio tape telling a puppy’s owner that her pet wasn’t at the facility then, after she apparently thought the owner had hung up, telling staff to lie about the puppy as he was being backdoored to a rescue.  The town allowed the director to retire instead of being fired.  She should be in jail.  (Thanks Clarice for the link.)

U Got the Look:  Shelter dogs in Ohio dressed up like Prince.

Officials at a middle school in Louisiana decided hell yes it’s appropriate to put a student’s service dog’s picture in the yearbook with all the other attendees.  (Thanks Claire.)

Pets help people in so many ways – this autistic child seemed to come out of her shell after getting a cat.  The photos accompanying the article are beautiful.

Dear All Police, Use these officers as your role models. Thx.  (Thanks mikken.)

Possible picture to give to your stylist next time you get a haircut.  (Thanks Claire.)

Hullo!  A humpback whale feeding at a marina in Alaska.

Two days in a row!  So treatsy!

Tyler Kelly, a former marine who relies on his dog Thor for emotional support in coping with his PTSD, says King George Co AC in Virginia told him death was the only option for his beloved pet after the dog was accused of killing a neighbor’s chickens and attacking a calf.  He’s hoping to save Thor’s life:

“If they do put him down, they’re going to be killing a part of me too,” Kelly said.

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The AVMA is among those who filed an amicus brief in support of a boarding kennel being sued by dog owners who allege the company’s negligence resulted in the death of their dog Lola, who had been adopted from a shelter  The owners are seeking to recover the $67,000 they paid to vets trying to save Lola:

In its brief, the company summed up its view of Lola like this: She was free, she never generated revenue, and the [owners] didn’t do anything that increased her value to the public.

“The mixed-breed dachshund had no special training or unique characteristics,” the kennel argued, “other than that of ‘family dog.’”

Shame on the AVMA and all the other supporters of this company who make a living off the fact that pets are valuable family members which cause their people to shell out money for their care.  The Supreme Court of Georgia is considering the case.

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A Mississippi man was caught on video dragging his dog behind his pickup truck. He pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor cruelty charge and will not serve any jail time. The dog survived and is recovering at a veterinary clinic.

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A SC man who allegedly shot his two dogs then fled the state has been arrested in Arkansas.  One dog survived the shooting.  The other, who was tied to a tree, died.

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What if you know your dog doesn’t like to be hugged but you can’t always stop yourself from doing it anyway, even when you try sooooo hard? (Asking for a friend)

Intake and killing are both down at Anchorage ACC in Alaska.  In 2005, the shelter took in roughly 9300 animals and killed 34% of them.  In 2015, they took in less than 4500 animals and killed 15%.  The cages are mostly empty now.  My question:  if most of the cages are empty, why are they killing 15% of their animals?

Shelter dogs labeled, and often mis-labeled, as pitbulls were found in a recent study to face longer stays before being adopted and were more likely to be killed.

Stay with me here:  A vet in GA was using an outdated, second-hand hyperbaric chamber to administer oxygen treatment to an arthritic dog named Casanova.  He placed a battery operated fan, which the manufacturer says should never under any circumstances be placed inside the chamber, inside the chamber.  Something, probably the fan which should never under any circumstances have been there, caused a spark and ignited the oxygen.  The chamber exploded and Casanova was killed.  The owner and her 4 year old son, who were waiting in the next room for Casanova, expected an apology or at least a phone call from the vet.  Instead, the vet told the owner Casanova must have started the fire.  (Thanks Clarice for the link.)

Researchers find, among other things, differences between the way women and men play with their dogs.  (Thanks Claire.)

Good news and bad news about unicorns.

I would watch an action movie about this octopus.

The shelter director credited with making lifesaving a priority at the Benson, AZ shelter has resigned after the good ol’ boys packed her bags and set them by the door.  The volunteers have reportedly quit too.  (Thanks Clarice for the link.)

Michigan InHumane keeps importing dogs and cats from the south while local pets in need are sent to the kill room.

Remember the seemingly suspicious goings-on surrounding the Helmetta pound in NJ?  It’s gotten some kind of worse.  Like Peyton Place worse.  (Thanks Clarice.)

Headline of the week: People upset after dog crate tethered to back of car; city rules unclear

Stray kitten to park visitor:  I adopt you now.  (Thanks Claire.)

Friendly reminder:  Wild animals are not performance props.

ABC7 reports that the only dogs who get walked at the Chicago pound are the dozen or so deemed “adoptable” and housed in a special area.  The rest are locked away from the public, left to get sick and suffer in filthy cages before they are killed for no reason.  (Thanks Clarice for the link.)

Former Boulder City pound director/shelter pet thrill-killer Mary Jo Frazier made bail.  Check out the photo at the link.  Freaks gonna freak.  (Thanks Clarice.)

PETA gets asked about puppy killing, which they report to the state of VA that they do quite a lot of annually, responds with wife beating analogy.  (Warning:  photos of dead pets at link.)

A Buddhist monk who stopped his car on a side road in Oregon to do a little obedience training in a new environment with his dogs was violently attacked by a man screaming “Fuck Muslims”.  Come on, people.

A little visual test.

Kitten movie trailer (audio NSFW).  (Thanks Karen.)

The director of the Houlton Humane Society in Maine resigned after police opened an investigation into the death of Harley, one of several special needs pets in her personal care.  The director posted on social media that she had found a home for Harley but an employee found the dog’s body in the freezer at the HS.  She later claimed the dog had fallen down the stairs at her home and that she had fabricated the adoption story to avoid judgment from others.  (Thank you Clarice for the links.)

A woman claiming to be a Lab rescuer in CT has been charged with third degree larceny for allegedly taking money from people who believed they were adopting shelter dogs she was saving.  She allegedly never produced the dogs.  (Thanks Clarice.)

CT ACOs are calling for state regulation of rescues and private shelters.  Approximately 20,000 animals were imported, mostly from the south, to the small New England state in 2014 by state licensed importers.  Many animals wind up in private, unregulated shelters.  A few of these places have been raided by police resulting in animal cruelty charges.  (Thanks Clarice.)

The Maryland Natural Resources Police are investigating the deaths of 13 protected bald eagles found on farm land and have offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to a conviction in the case.  (Warning:  dead bird photo at link.)

While the Memphis pound continues to kill animals, Memphis Pets Alive has been holding low cost microchip clinics and fundraisers for a new building.  MPA also trapped 60 cats for World Spay Day and took them for neuter surgery.  (Thanks Ona.)